eyewitness news in high definition. we have never seen it quite like this. >> you know it. the price of gasoline shooting up 8 cents overnight. some stations are even running out. what's going on here? how long is this going to last? it was just moving. >> she says her seat came loose in flight. the new fallout for american airlines and how the bay area is affected. el nino, making a comeback, but it's not what you think. the surprise in store for the bay area this winter. good evening. i'm ken bastida. >> and i'm elizabeth cook. dana has the night off. by the time you wake up tomorrow, it may be a dime higher. the average price for a gallon of gas in california is now 4.32. that's after going up nine cents just last night. and a cbs 5 reporter shows us some california gas stations are running low. kit? >> reporter: liz, it is even

11:02pm

worse than the experts have predicted for some gas stations. for example, this chevron in san jose, on tuesday, people were complaining about a 20- cent jump overnight. since that time, the price has gone up another 40 cents. now some gas stations themselves are running empty. >> refinery-ageddon has already begun. several stations have locked up pumps after running out of gas. supply is down because a power surge knocked a refinery in torrence offline. and it's not the only one. a chevron crude oil pipeline through central california is shut down due to safety problems. and the chevron refinery in richmond still hasn't recovered from the fire in august. brace your wallets. >> we have never seen a spike like this. this is brand-new territory. >> reporter: mike has to sell regular unleaded at 4.89 a

11:03pm

gallon just to stay afloat. he locked up the pumps because it looked like he was gouging customers but later he had to open back up and sell at a huge loss. >> if this is going to keep like that, we're gonna have to close the doors. >> reporter: in the bay area, prices are up 20 to 30 cents. greg says it's cost his business an extra $700 this week. >> as a pepper in the -- a person in the middle class, it's very hard. >> reporter: so we called around to a bunch of areas around the bay area. looks like they've all got gas for now. they're saying that the pain is not over. the price should level off by saturday or sunday. you can always find the cheapest prices online on our website at www.cbs5.com/gas. live in san jose. from the west coast to the east coast, american airlines grounding flights all across the country to fix the seating problem on those 757's. we've been selling you about

11:04pm

this. entire rows of seats have been popping loose in flight, leaving passengers shaken up, including one woman who had a bumpy ride. she told us what that was like. christin? >> reporter: that's right. america is reportedly saying they will have this fixed by friday. in the meantime, i spoke to a woman who says she sat in one of those seats and she just doesn't feel safe. >> it is concerning. >> reporter: rachel was flying american airlines for the first time on monday, on a flight from las vegas to san francisco. midair, she realized something was terribly wrong with her seat. >> the chair was moving. it was just moving. her experience slightly less harrowing than the stories of passengers on board american airlines flights earlier this week when two entire rows of seats became unhinged on two separate flights. >> it was actually a complete

11:05pm

nightmare. people were essentially on the laps of the passengers behind them. >> reporter: american has traced the problem to these saddle clamps. they are what secure seats to the floor of the plane. the malfunction american claims was a perfect storm. >> the wear and tear on the locking mechanism allowed the plunger to come dislodged and ultimately allow the seats to become dislodged. >> reporter: so far, workers have identified six seats not properly secured. they removed rows of seats to zero in on the problem. 47 flights have been cancelled, including one san francisco to miami plane tomorrow morning. >> we're going through the fleet and adding an additional locking feature on top of this that will, we believe, prevent this from happening again. >> reporter: it's little reassurance for her, who wasn't sure she'd ever fly american again. >> unless there is a good reason for it. >> reporter: american has had

11:06pm

to cancel about 1,000 flights over the past month due to labor disputes. however, the pilots' union is now saying they're ready to come back to the negotiating table. christin ayers, cbs 5. tears of joy because her precious meeko is home safe and sound. a little girl has been reunited with her stolen puppy. lynn explains how a stranger saved a ten-year-old girl from a broken heart. >> reporter: ten-year-old marissa mabanag knew something was up when she came home from school and found a crowd in her front yard. her hopes and prayers were answered when her sister appeared holding her beloved meeko. >> i want to say to everybody who made this happen -- i want to thank everybody. >> reporter: the dog had been stolen during a burglary on monday. a woman who found meeko running loss in a target parking lot

11:07pm

returned the dog today. >> i recognized the dog from the picture. it was really -- >> what did you think you had to do? >> well, i had to return it. i seen her face and she was really sad. i was like, oh, i need to return it. it was the right thing to do. >> reporter: in a tearful plea, marissa had offered her piggy bank for the dog's safe return. san jose police, firefighters, upped the reward to 6,000. marissa and her family couldn't believe that something good came out of a bad family episode. >> it's our job to make sure that we continue to pass on good deeds to other people. >> were you surprised? >> yeah. i'm just happy that he's safe and back with our family. he's gonna be safe no matter what now. >> reporter: the woman who returned meeko says that her own children had grown attached to the dog after a day or two, and they were sad to give it

11:08pm

back. she says she'll use part of her reward money to buy them a new puppy. 4,000 bay area catholics have a new archbishop tonight. salvatore cordileone arrived at st. mary's cathedral for his installation ceremony. just a few hundred feet away, though, protesters upset over his support of california's gay marriage ban. the archbishop did not mention same-sex marriage today but he did address his recent dui arrest in san diego. >> i cannot, though, adequately express my gratitude to you all for the outpouring of love, support and promises of prayers that i received in the wake of the regrettable mistake in judgment i made with regard to my driving and for which i apologize. >> he's about the most anti-guy catholic person they could find to do this. this is done with a reason, to

11:09pm

tell gay families they'll never be treated equally. he was just one badge away from becoming an eagle scout. the moraga teen may never reach that rank, because he's gay. ryan recently came out to his family and friends. now his troop is refusing to sign after on his eagle award. the high school senior completed his final project just last month, the anti- bullying tolerance wall he helped create. >> this is the opportunity to participate in the making of a permanent mural that would promote that idea of tolerance and acceptance for all our students. each tile has a different message about respecting all differences. it's a very positive message to promote throughout our school. >> ryan's mother started an online petition urging the scouts not to deny her son his

11:10pm

award. more than 120,000 people have signed it. boy scouts of america released this statement, saying, he is no longer eligible for membership in scouting because of his sexual orientation, because he does not agree to the organization's principle of, quote, duty to god. hundreds if not thousands of patients could be at risk of a rare meningitis injection. the culprit, tainted vials of steroids often used to treat back pain. kim reports that some of that medication was shipped to california. >> reporter: sue is waiting to see if she gets meningitis. >> i just sort of thought, okay, we're going to research this. and of course, the more i researched it, the more worried i get. >> reporter: she is one of 400 patients who got a call from a tennessee clinic saying they may have been exposed to fungal meningitis, a rare form of the

11:11pm

disease which is not contagious. 35 cases have been reported in six states. at least five people have died. all got sick after getting epidural steroid injections, most for back pain. >> none of us have seen anything like this, where a medication injected into the cerebral spinal fluid has caused infection, so we're in new territory here. >> reporter: the drug came from the new england compounding center in massachusetts. federal investigators say they found several contaminants in unopened vials at the facility. today the fda announced that shipments were sent to 23 states, including california. if you've had an epidural injection since july, you need to know that meningitis is an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. symptoms include severe and worsening headache, nausea, dizziness and fever. in some cases, symptoms might mimic a stroke with slurred speech and difficulty walking.

11:12pm

>> that makes it different. perhaps some patients and certainly some doctors wouldn't think of meningitis right away if the patient presented primarily with those kinds of symptoms. >> the california department of health does not know where those drug shipments went, but cbs 5 has learned that the ukia valley medication center did receive some of the medications. so far, no reports of illness. even democrats are asking, what was up with president obama? wait till you hear what al gore blamed for his debate performance. not all el ninos... the surprise it could bring to the bay area. turkeys gone wild in the bay area. they're damaging yards, even roofs. the city that's overrun and why people are being warned to bring an umbrella. today - we saw mitt romney',

11:13pm

[ male announcer ] jay likes it when his mobile phone helps him deposit his checks. jay also like it when mother nature helps him wash his car. mother nature's cool like that. mobile check deposit. easier banking. standard at citibank.

11:14pm

11:15pm

makes it easy for anne to manage her finances when she's on the go. even when she's not going anywhere. citibank for ipad. easier banking. standard at citibank. boost... while pre the big debate last night, today we saw mitt romney's campaign relishing a badly needed boost, while president obama's supporters wondered what went wrong in denver. >> when you go to 5,000 feet -- >> exactly. >> and you only have a few hours to adjust -- >> that's

11:16pm

so true. >> i don't know, maybe... >> i'm sorry. yes. former vice president gore suggesting the altitude in the mile-high city was partly to blame. well, we should note that polls showed most americans thought that gore won his first debate with george w. bush. we know how that turned out. meanwhile, mitt romney offered a new take on his infamous 47% comment. he initially said those remarks were not elegantly stated. well, tonight he now called them, quote, just completely wrong. mr. romney was asked what he would have said if the president had brought up the 47% during last night's debate. flooding, wind, landslides, those are just a few of the words that come to mind when we hear the phrase el nino, as we head into what likely will be another el nino winter, our meteorologist paul deanno dig some digging and found that not

11:17pm

all el ninos are created equal. >> they are not. all signs are pointing towards the first el nino we have had since 2009, many of those winters packed with way too much rainfall, but sometimes, sometimes they are the exact opposite. the strongest el nino on record brought some of the worst weather the bay area has ever seen. the el nino winter of 1997-98 packed a powerful punch. relentless rainfall, more than a foot of rain in february, combined with gusty winds, unstable soil and rough surf. we also never want a repeat. el nino comes to life with warmer-than-normal ocean water near the equator in the middle of the pacific ocean. that warm water helps create more thunderstorms there in what appears to be the middle of nowhere. here's how interdependent the atmosphere is. el nino, which forms some 5,000 miles away, the jet stream goes all the way from here to

11:18pm

california. any change in the jet stream here will get a big change all the way down there. now, history shows that a strong el nino essentially guarantees a wet winter in the bay area. often, really wet. but here's something really interesting. a weaker el nino, with fewer jet stream-altering thunderstorms has a much different impact on our weather. since 1950, we have had 19 different el nino winter events. 11 of those 19 were moderate to strong and most of these, we had a pretty rough winter. but eight of those were classified as weak el nino years. out of those eight, two of those years -- 2006 and 1976 -- were weak el ninos which immediately followed a winter with a weak la nina. that's the case this year. in both of these examples, the winter was dryer than normal, not wetter. now, a second straight dry winter would create other problems, like a shorter ski season, worsening water restrictions and a very high

11:19pm

fire danger next year. but compared to what we endured fifteen years ago, that would be a few drops in the bucket. literally. >> okay. so not a guarantee but it's an indicator. el nino an excellent indicator of what's going to happen over the entire winter season. but predicting that one event, that one really bad storm, impossible this far out. it's those single events that often shape whether we think it's been a bad winter or not, and el nino, la nina, that's something we can't do. today we got a little taste of what's to come in san francisco this weekend. that, of course, is the sound of the blue angels doing some practice flying. they're just one piece of what promises to be an epic weekend which could bring with it some

11:20pm

epic gridlock. on top for tomorrow, america's cup. the races in fleet week around san francisco's waterfront. the hardly strictly bluegrass festival in golden gate park. stop me if you heard this before. and a florence and the machine concert at shoreline. not to mention the giants, 49ers, et cetera, et cetera. do not try to drive into the city this weekend. bart will add more trains and longer trains this sunday. for a full list of events, head to www.cbs5.com. turkeys gone wild. dozens if not hundreds of them have invaded one bay area city. they're everywhere, running through the streets, destroying gardens, even roofs. the unusual way people are defending themselves. >> the turkeys are back! >> reporter: there are turkeys in hercules. >> they're all over this area,

11:21pm

hercules, el cerrito, in my neighborhood. >> reporter: and some residents complain they are damaging rooftops, behaving aggressively during the breeding season and leaving behind quite a mess. this was kind of a tricky assignment, because while there are turkeys all throughout hercules, when we spotted them, whenever they spotted us, they took off. barbara and her friend had a different experience, a close encounter. >> they were having eggs, babies and stuff, and we got tapped on the back of our necks. we felt like we -- we started hitting them. >> you started hitting the turkeys with a chair? >> because the guy was getting hit. >> reporter: turns out the man and turkey survived. they warn residents not to feed them and to keep a distance, even suggesting opening an umbrella to scare them off. >> they want their personal space, about ten feet away.

11:22pm

>> and they are just invading hercules and there's nothing you can do. we called animal control, but they're wild animals, so... >> reporter: so for now, there will be turkeys in hercules. ,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,

11:23pm

11:24pm

11:25pm

we are talking temperatures now. temperatures that are taking a tumble. take a look at where we've been just the pass couple of days. concord, two days ago, 100 degrees. look where you were today, only 72. san jose, 21 degrees cooler today than you were on tuesday. we still have that marine layer outside and that on shore flow is strong and we're cooling down. santa rosa, already down to 53. here's what's happening. low pressure, the same one that was to our south giving us an offshore wind, 80's, 90's, 100's. it's now just off to our west, giving us an onshore flow. we'll be a little bit cooler and a little bit cloudier as that low inches closer to us. by monday, by the start of next week, right over the top of us,

11:26pm

that gives us very unstable air. even in october, that can lead to showers and scattered showers are in the forecast for next monday and tuesday. a lot of cloud cover for the next several warnings. you'll get afternoon sunshine, though. weekend, it's going to be a chilly one but it will be dry. chilly tomorrow. friday, in oakland, only 65. san jose, only 71. palo alto, 69 degrees. hayward, 67. we'll see some afternoon sunshine for pittsburg, concord, fairfield. alameda for your friday, 66 degrees. extended forecast, a dry but chilly weekend. upper 70's inland. by the top of next week, showers by monday and tuesday, clearing out but staying chilly on wednesday. sports is coming up next. ,,,,,,,,

11:27pm

vo: for years, sacramento politicians have chopped away funds for our schools. today, we're forty-seventh out of fifty in per-pupil funding. now these politicians say unless we send more tax dollars to sacramento, they'll cut education again.

11:28pm

here's a new approach. prop thirty-eight sends billions in new education dollars straight to our local schools, and guarantees the politicians can't touch it. thirty-eight will restore the education cuts from sacramento. so remember this number.

11:29pm

hockey players??? the offics are back at work. what's the difference between nfl officials and hockey players? well, the officials are back at work. the nhl announced that the first two weeks of the season have been cancelled so there won't be any hockey through october 24. the sharks lose three home games, at least for the time being. at issue, the owners want to

11:30pm

cut the players' share of revenue from 57% to as low as 47%. hockey fans, put your tickets on ice for now. arizona, they have been no laughing matter. are you kidding me? they were undefeated, trying to stay that way, but look out kevin cobb. he was sacked nine times. sam bradford looking deep forgiveness. the rams shock arizona 17-3. good news, the 49ers, if they win sunday, they'll be tied with the cardinals for first place in the nfl west. the giants worked out today at at&t. manager bruce bochy announced that madison bumgarner will start game 2 on sunday. the last time madison bumgarner started a post-season game, game 4, 2010 world series. remember that? the 21-year-old rookie pitched eight shutout innings. bobby valentine was fired.

11:31pm

the rookie was 13-and-8, 3.47 era this season. the rest of oakland's rotation will likely be announced tomorrow. bobby valentine. fired as a red sox manager today after one disastrous season. his press conference from his bike kicks off the top five. >> how did the meeting go, bobby? >> it was just at the river actually. wasn't a meeting at all. the river is beautiful. leaves are changing. it's a great place to be. >> the manager, good line. remember the bloody saw from kirk in 2004 play-offs? he's having financial problems, he's going to have to sell it. and jim harbaugh, willie mays, the kid with jim harbaugh, the owner in the background there, at practice. back to the rams-cardinals. arizona might have lost but they did get a nice interception from patrick. did he get both feet in? >> absolutely.